Coaches/Parents of female high schoolers- signs of quality programs??

Sweet lord.

I'd prioritize the school with the best academics.

I would look at two simple things . Are most girls faster as seniors than they were as freshmen? Is the varsity team a variety of ages?

Teams where girls consistently run their lifetime PRs as Fr/So or consistently have a varsity team made up of underclassmen are probably overtraining and getting kids hurt. There are a lot of ways to train kids successfully at the high school level because almost every stimulus is new, so you want to find someone that is patient and will not take shortcuts with health.

Are you sure you're really a dad and not a teenage girl yourself? The double question marks make it hard to tell.

Please clarify..are you looking for a good high school program or a good college program for girls?

High School

What state are you in...are you willing to move?

The first step in choosing a high school program is to find out what school your daughter is currently scheduled to go to, along with all of her middle school friends.

Next, check if they have a xc and track team. If they do, you have found her team.

Best Programs wrote:

What state are you in...are you willing to move?

That is effing ridiculous, moving your family so that your kid can have a good HS running experience. Get a grip people.

Just to clarify. She will be attending her local high school. It is a locally successful one. So we are not "shopping around" for a school. I also teach/coach and have been involved with XC and track at a neighboring school for a number of years. This will stop now as I do not want to miss her meets and/or coach against her. I will be helping out some at least with XC (not sure about other seasons. Different coaches, all of whom I like). I just wanted to get some more advice on successful programs as I am always trying to pick stuff up and learn a bit more.

A Dad. wrote:

Just to clarify. She will be attending her local high school. It is a locally successful one. So we are not "shopping around" for a school. I also teach/coach and have been involved with XC and track at a neighboring school for a number of years. This will stop now as I do not want to miss her meets and/or coach against her. I will be helping out some at least with XC (not sure about other seasons. Different coaches, all of whom I like). I just wanted to get some more advice on successful programs as I am always trying to pick stuff up and learn a bit more.

Really, you are going to stop doing what you do so that you can attend every race your daughter runs? Really?? Give her some room to be herself, to do what she wants to do. Let her do this because SHE loves it, not to fulfill your expectations.

Take a step back.....

Probably not a parent are you?

Nothing wrong with supporting your child's sport and attending games or races. You cross that line when you start interfering with your child's decisions or trying to dictate the coach's decisions to help your child.

Individualization

“It’s better to be at 90% fitness and 100% health than 90% health and 100% fitness” philosophy

Big focus on aerobic development

A collaborative, family-like team culture

lr troll wrote:

helicopter....... wrote:

Really, you are going to stop doing what you do so that you can attend every race your daughter runs? Really?? Give her some room to be herself, to do what she wants to do. Let her do this because SHE loves it, not to fulfill your expectations.

Take a step back.....

Probably not a parent are you?

Nothing wrong with supporting your child's sport and attending games or races. You cross that line when you start interfering with your child's decisions or trying to dictate the coach's decisions to help your child.

Yes, a parent, and agree that there is nothing wrong with supporting your kids.

But, this guy is going to quit coaching at a neighboring school so he can now be involved with coaching his daughter and be at every comp.

Sorry, that is a sign of someone going to far and it is only the beginning.

I probably should not engage but can't help it.

I have coached various sports for 28 years. The last 15 or its been track and XC at High School as well as some (not all) sports that my daughters have played. I am a PE teacher also so kind of go hand in hand. I am sure from a far sounds a bit "helicopter" ish but.... my daughters do choose what they want to do, if it were up to me she (oldest) would take a break and play basketball instead of indoor, but she is falling in love w running and wants to focus on it so... her choice and I will support it 100%. They will be in high school for 4 years, then they will be gone. I am sure there will be an event here and there that I will miss, but it won't be many if I can help it. When they are gone and out of the house I doubt I will be saying, "I really wish I had coached my old HS team and missed almost all or her regular season meets while coaching other kids at the regional and state meets while she is running against my teams" Sorry that is not happening. I am looking at the best of both worlds. I will stay in the sport, coach kids (including my daughter) hopefully have a positive experience. Trust me I am aware of the pitfalls, we have had multiple conversations. If she did not want this I would not coach. I would simply watch and be Dad. I did that when she first started middle school track. Her school AD asked me to coach, I was going to, she said n, so I didn't. After a year of that she asked me if I would coach the team, and I am in year two of that right now (and let me tell you middle school track is a different beast all together-- could easily be its own thread!) So anyway thats my long winded way of defending myself, if thats being a helicopter parent in some people's view then so be it, but thats how it is and all parties seem ok with it.

Hey Dad,

If you're going to be helping out the current head coach then I'm not too sure what you could do with any information we give you here. Are you going to be an assistant or the head coach?

In terms of signs of a quality program? They very rarely have rebuilding years. The norm would instead be to reload no matter who graduated. As someone else said previously, if all the top girls are underclassmen that's a problem, but it's also totally normal for a lot of girls to get slower their junior and/or senior year as their body matures faster than their cardio system can keep up with.

Check if the coaches surname is Hunter.

No, more seriously, check what Marc and Joan and other coaches posted in the Ask Me Anything thread, after a bunch of top tier coaches presented in Boulder earlier in 2018. Joan's presso was 'from Frisbee to NXN champs in 5 years (maybe it was 4 ?). Videos of the Boulder seminar were being sold some on this LR HS forum.